


Understanding

by ani_bester



Category: Invaders, Invaders (Marvel), Marvel, Marvel 616
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Family, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Found Family, Mental Health Issues, Other, Panic Attacks, chosen family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 05:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2055456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ani_bester/pseuds/ani_bester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toro's accident on the train may have left him physically unhurt, but mentally the disaster continues to haunt him. He thinks something is wrong with him when small things set of major reactions, so Jim shares his own continued problems from the time he was sealed away in concrete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Understanding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [allofthefandoms](https://archiveofourown.org/users/allofthefandoms/gifts).



> Another short Jim and Toro story. The background for this one uses the headcanon that the train wreck happened around the time Toro was 6 or 7 and he was with the circus until about 13. And in Golden Age Canon, Toro was enrolled in school while with Jim. He excelled at gymnastics. 
> 
> I refuse to let Marvel canon take this circus from Toro :)

The last rays of sun filtered through Jim’s dirty window and came to rest beside Toro on the small cot Jim had bought for him. Toro sat with his knees drawn together and nibbled on some crackers, his fourth snack that evening. Jim sat at the table, watching Toro fidget next to the wool blanket. A book on New York laws lay open in front of Jim and though he kept glancing down at it, he had stopped reading over a minute ago. 

When Toro sighed loud enough to fill the room, and looked at Jim like he might be about to confess a crime, Jim abandoned his pretense of reading, and shifted his chair to face Toro. 

“Is something the matter, lad?”

Spluttering over the cracker he had half eaten, Toro, looked away. Reddening cheeks confirmed Jim’s suspicions, but he waited in silence. Betty had advised him to wait for Toro to speak and he found her suggestion often produced better results than his inclination to bombarded Toro with questions. 

Jim waited while Toro broke his snack into crumbs, and then watched Toro shuffle to the trash and discard his uneaten crackers. As Toro walked with slumped shoulder to the sink, Jim bit back a reprimand about wasted food and continued to wait.

“Something happened at school today,” Toro muttered over the sound of the water. He scrubbed the plate with more vigor than needed and kept glancing behind him toward Jim. Jim leaned forward on his chair, and gave a small nod. 

Toro looked down at the plate in his hands, and Jim could see his shoulders begin to shake. “I got upset today, really upset.” Toro began. “But I couldn’t even explain why so the teacher got mad at me for distributing the lesson so I go more upset and -and I- I just lost control, pappy; I didn’t mean to, and I got the flames back quick like you showed me, no one got hurt, but I’m expelled.”

The plate clattered against metal as Toro dropped it into the sing. He sniffled he turned and Jim saw the sick guilt across his face; his last words hanging in the air between them. 

“I guessed something had gone wrong when I saw you standing outside the school barefoot in your shorts.” 

Toro nodded like a man hearing a guilty sentence. When Jim saw a flush of shame begin to spread across Toro’s cheeks, he felt his chest tighten in a way that made no biological sense yet still hurt. H walked over to Toro and pulled Toro’s hands from the sink to his chest. Then, Jim bent over so they were eye level and gave Toro a quick peck on the forehead. 

Toro blinked and for a moment Jim though he’d done something wrong. Perhaps only mother’s kissed like that, but then Toro managed a half grin. 

“You ain’t sore I guess.”

“Honestly,” Jim said, shifting so he could lean against the counter. “I am relieved. If you flamed on out of panic and the worst that happened is you are expelled, I count ourselves lucky.”

“It was so stupid though.” Toro sighed. “I don’t even know why I got upset. Just there was a train whistle and I just-“ Toro grimaced and crossed his arms. “I was dumb.”

“Perhaps, or perhaps not.” Jim went over to their ice box and produced a soda he’d meant to give to Toro after the weekend’s lessons, but it seemed like something that might help more now. He poured the treat into two glasses and carried them over, handing one to Toro. 

“Why perhaps not?” Toro asked after drinking almost his whole cup in one gulp.

Jim sipped his own drink for a moment, then set it on the counter. “I have a similar response to being in small places. I find it is harder to control my flames because I am strongly reminded of being sealed away. No matter how much I remind myself no one is waiting to bury me in concrete, I still feel the same discomfort, which sometimes nearly causes me to flame on as though I were in a threatening situation.”

Toro moved a little closer to Jim. “You never said you were upset in there.”

“I don’t like to speak of it because I hated it so much.”

“Oh.”

Jim took advantage of Toro’s rare stillness to ruffle Toro’s hair. This gesture had become a favorite of his, even if it often earned him a brief scowl from Toro. 

“So,” Jim continued. “If unrelated small spaces bring out panic in me because of what I went through, perhaps reminders of trains do the same for you; in fact, the stories I was told about trying to get you onto the circus train suggest adverse reactions to reminders of trains is very likely.”

Toro leaned back at covered his eyes. “Criminey, they told you about that!” he explained with all the theatrics of a vaudeville act. “Throw one tantrum and no one ever let’s a fella live it down.”

Jim chuckled. “I think it was more the drunken antics and the passing out part that everyone liked to relate to me.”

“They gave the hooch to me,” Toro huffed. “Told me it would help me relax; I didn’t know!”

Jim’s chuckle became a full on laugh and after a moment Toro couldn’t help but join in. He put an arm around Toro and hugged him close as Toro regained his composure. 

“But what are we going to do now.” Toro asked, slouching against Jim. “We had a hard enough time getting me into a school as it was.”

Jim sobered and thought a moment then shrugged. “For tomorrow, before I leave we’ll find books in the library and you’ll study while I am on patrol. For now though, would you like another flying lesson?”

Toro’s eyes lit up and Jim saw flame’s lick along the tips of his fingers. 

“Boy would I,” he whooped. Jim had to use his own abilities to keep Toro’s fires at bay. 

“Then put the dishes away, and I will call the Chief and let him know we will train tonight so his men won’t worry if they see us in the sky.”

Jim made it to the phone but hadn’t even complete his dial before Toro was at his side, bouncing up and down on his toes as he waited on Jim to clear everything with the cops. 

Jim couldn’t help but smile.


End file.
